Which New SEC Coach Could Dethrone Alabama?

With officially six new coaches in the SEC, there was talk recently of which coach could be the first to dethrone Nick Saban and Alabama, in much less becoming the next great conference champion. Even while Matt Luke served as only the interim at Ole Miss, the tag was removed to make him officially the head coach. Two are new to the SEC, another returns to familiar territory and two more are Saban apprentices so to speak. We all know by now who they all are.

Luke was made interim head coach at Ole Miss after the abrupt resignation of Hugh Freeze last season, and it came at the worst time with NCAA rulings. While they may not be bowl eligible yet, Luke has a new quarterback in Jordan Ta’amu, who is extremely quick and took the reins over quickly last year. While the lack of some seniors may hinder their growth into year two, this rivalry has been one to keep an eye on. Ole Miss had won two of the last five games while trying to return to prominence.

Chad Morris makes his SEC debut as a head coach at Arkansas, although he is an A&M alumnus. He is in search of his new quarterback and helping the Razorbacks find a new identity to get away from Bret Beliema’s style. While everything looks fairly new in Fayetteville, I see no chance of Morris making Arkansas an SEC powerhouse anytime soon. Morris has a lot to tend to to get Arkansas back to winning as they were in the Bobby Petrino days, if ever.

Possibly the biggest move in the SEC is the hiring of Jimbo Fisher to Texas A&M from Florida State. This was a move that no one anticipated. He brings several ACC titles and one BCS title out west and will definitely change the landscape of the SEC. While the quarterback roster looks to still be a mess from the last couple of years, it usually doesn’t take long for Fisher to find his man. He was once Saban’s offensive coordinator as LSU and won a BCS title under him.

Another Saban apprentice is his former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, now the head coach at Tennessee. While Philip Fulmer took over as athletic director, it was assumed that he might find a better profiled name other than the ones who came up under John Currie’s search. Not so much of a questionable call, but someone with potential that Fulmer sees, and if things pick up, the “Third Saturday In October”, will become a huge rivalry once again.

Most likely one of the biggest moves within the SEC is Dan Mullen, going from Mississippi State back to Florida. While he had surprising success at Mississippi State with Dak Prescott, he missed out on getting Joe Burrow who picked LSU. His only hope is to turn Feleipe Franks into a more mature leader, despite throwing for over 1,400 yards in 11 games. Back to winning is no doubt, but Florida still has a ways to go before returning to previous form from the Urban Meyer era.

Speaking of Mississippi State, Joe Moorhead is somewhat of an apprentice to former Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin, although he has been a head man before. Moorhead had success as a head coach at Fordham turning around a 1-10 team and leading them into the FCS Playoffs three straight years. At first even with Nick Fitzpatrick, he will have to play with the best guys he has got, but could eventually become a contender for the SEC West in the near future.

From the looks of things in their first year, it looks to be a toss-up between Jimbo Fisher and Joe Moorhead. Fisher is more familiar with Saban than anybody, and has the upper hand in the SEC West. If a new SEC coach does knock off Saban in their first season, it will be huge.